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226 entries in 'Trending News'

2024/04/18 Supreme Court rejects appeal from Black Lives Matter activist
2024/04/04 Retired Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy has memoir coming
2024/02/19 Ken Paxton petitions to stop Dallas woman from getting an abortion
2024/02/02 UN court rejects most of Ukraine’s terror financing case against Russia
2024/01/15 Fueled by border crossings, a record 3 million cases clog US immigration courts
2023/12/26 Britain cracks down on protests in threat to democratic norms
2023/12/07 Mexico’s Supreme Court lifts 2022 ban on bullfighting
2023/12/04 Opening statements begin in Jonathan Majors assault trial in New York
2023/11/30 Panama’s high court declared a mining contract unconstitutional
2023/10/23 Trump trial: accountant testifies, Michael Cohen postpones
2023/10/14 Court upholds judge’s finding that Tesla acquisition of Solar City was fair
2023/10/10 Biden’s second try at student loan cancellation moves forward with debate
2023/09/15 5 former officers charged with federal civil rights violations
2023/09/12 McCarthy juggles a government shutdown and a Biden impeachment inquiry
2023/09/04 Judge strikes down a Texas law requiring age verification to view adult websites
2023/08/17 McCarthy floats stopgap funding to prevent a government shutdown
2023/08/07 Russian court imposes 3- to 6-year sentences for distributing tainted drinks
2023/07/31 Musk threatens to sue researchers who documented the rise in hateful tweets
2023/07/10 Judge dismisses lawsuit seeking reparations for the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre
2023/06/28 Supreme Court rules for nursing home patient’s family
2023/06/12 Austrian court restarts US extradition proceedings for Ukrainian
2023/05/11 Koreatown Directory, Interesting News, Memes, and Articles
2023/05/09 Nigeria court hears opposition’s presidential vote challenge
2023/05/01 Justices to consider case involving fishing boat monitor pay
2023/03/06 North Carolina Supreme Court to revisit school funding
2023/01/26 Oregon launches abortion hotline offering free legal advice
2023/01/03 State seeks long prison term for accused NYC subway gunman
2022/12/16 US trustee, media challenging secrecy in FTX bankruptcy
2022/11/28 Hong Kong asks Beijing to step in into row over UK lawyer
2022/11/15 Man granted new trial in 2006 triple murder freed after plea
2022/11/07 Jackson, in dissent, issues first Supreme Court opinion
2022/10/05 W.Va. Supreme Court hears arguments in school voucher case
2022/09/19 Iran faces US in international court over asset seizure
2022/09/08 Utah-based company wins auction to buy Jay Peak in Vermont
2022/06/13 Supreme Court rules against Navajo Nation member
2022/04/20 2nd Circuit denies Yanks request in letter unsealing case
2022/04/16 AG wants death-row prisoner’s mental fitness exam called off
2022/02/28 Man convicted of fraudulently seeking $13M in COVID-19 loans
2021/08/20 Judge tells prison to seize Nassar’s money for victims
2021/08/16 Holocaust researchers in Poland win libel case on appeal
2021/07/30 How much does a law firm website design cost?
2021/07/02 Ruling is final blow to New Hampshire voter registration law
2021/05/10 UK lawyer fined for defying Heathrow court ruling embargo
2021/04/08 NYC corruption case prompts dismissal of 90 drug convictions
2021/03/15 Man gets 5 years in prison for arson at Savannah city office
2021/02/16 European court rejects case vs Germany over Afghan airstrike
2021/01/27 GameStop soars again; Wall Street bends under the pressure
2021/01/25 Supreme Court ends Trump emoluments lawsuits
2021/01/21 Woman accused of helping steal Pelosi laptop freed from jail
2021/01/06 Arizona Supreme Court upholds election challenge dismissal
2021/01/01 What is the secret to the longevity of fresh flowers?
2020/12/16 Senate confirms Barrett replacement on federal appeals court
2020/11/15 Chapter 7 bankruptcy - The Bankruptcy Means Test
2020/10/24 Trump, Biden lawyer up, brace for White House legal battle
2020/10/19 Michigan court blocks 2-week absentee ballot extension
2020/09/26 Court allows public nuisance suits against 3 Alabama casinos
2020/09/11 Judges: Trump can’t exclude people from district drawings
2020/09/08 WikiLeaks’ Assange to fight US extradition bid in UK court
2020/09/07 Saudi court issues final verdicts in Khashoggi killing
2020/08/27 Thai court issues new arrest warrant for Red Bull scion
2020/08/06 ‘See you in court’: ACLU files nearly 400 cases versus Trump
2020/08/01 Court overturns Boston Marathon bomber’s death sentence
2020/07/19 Justice Ginsburg says cancer has returned, but won’t retire
2020/07/14 New Orleans councilman, attorney plead not guilty to fraud
2020/07/04 Supreme Court upholds cellphone robocall ban
2020/06/25 Supreme Court doesn’t wade into Texas mail-in voting battle
2020/06/17 What Supreme Court? Trump's HHS pushes LGBT health rollback
2020/06/15 Court rejects Trump bid to end young immigrants’ protections
2020/06/13 Wolf asks Pennsylvania Supreme Court to uphold shutdown
2020/06/02 Wisconsin Supreme Court agrees to hear voter purge case
2020/05/23 Oregon high court keeps state virus restrictions in place
2020/05/22 Lawyer for Biden accuser Tara Reade drops her as a client
2020/05/01 Blind justice: No visual cues in high court phone cases
2020/04/11 Court lifts part of order blocking Texas abortion ban
2020/03/12 International court approves Afghanistan investigation
2020/03/10 Spanish court: Google search must show man's acquittal first
2020/02/07 Court fight over lost dog survives after dog's owner dies
2020/01/22 Court takes another look at Native American adoption law
2020/01/19 Supreme Court rejects fast-track review of health care suit
2020/01/14 Court reverses $35M verdict against Jehovah’s Witnesses
2020/01/08 Trump Gets Woman’s Suit Delayed Until NY Top Court Weighs In
2020/01/01 Cyprus court finds 19 year-old British woman guilty
2019/12/08 Trump Has Successfully Gamed the Courts
2019/12/07 Court says Arkansas must count eye law referendum signatures
2019/11/09 Indian court rules in favor of Hindu temple on disputed land
2019/07/20 Dutch Supreme Court upholds Srebrenica deaths liability
2019/07/08 Fines, jail, probation, debt: Court policies punish the poor
2019/07/01 Court rules against Florida officials on medical marijuana
2019/06/16 Court rules UK must reconsider arms sales to Saudi Arabia
2019/06/15 Option to undo some DUI convictions yet to be widely sought
2019/06/10 Supreme Court sides with Alabama company in patent dispute
2019/06/07 Supreme Court rules against oil drilling platform workers
2019/05/26 Kenya's Judges Uphold Laws That Criminalize Gay Sex
2019/05/06 Georgia high court to hear appeal in election challenge
2019/05/01 EPA reaffirms glyphosate safe for users as court cases grow
2019/04/28 Slovak court rejects to ban parliamentary far right party
2019/03/31 Wisconsin voters have another partisan choice for high court
2019/03/04 Supreme Court rules for Alabama death row inmate
2019/02/16 High court rules for retired US marshal in W.Va. tax dispute
2019/02/13 Court case to tackle jails' medication-assisted treatment
2019/02/12 Opera singer, husband appear in court on sex assault charge
2019/01/10 Russian court says bobsledder can keep Olympic titles
2019/01/06 Court orders mediation in Maryland desegregation case
2019/01/04 WVa AG's help sought in Supreme Court impeachment appeal
2018/12/29 The Latest: Shutdown affects court cases that involve Trump
2018/12/26 Prominent Chinese rights lawyer tried in closed proceedings
2018/12/17 Colorado baker returns to court over 2nd LGBT bias allegation
2018/11/22 Court: Reds exempt from tax on promotional bobbleheads
2018/11/10 NC high court weighs if tracking sex offenders reasonable
2018/11/07 Ginsburg, 85, hospitalized after fracturing 3 ribs in fall
2018/11/02 Supreme Court agrees to hear Maryland cross memorial case
2018/10/20 Maldives court overturns prison term for ex-president
2018/09/10 The Latest: Authorities: Officer arrested for manslaughter
2018/09/02 Chaos marks start of Kavanaugh confirmation hearing
2018/09/01 UN court hears case over strategic Indian Ocean islands
2018/08/28 It's our job to make your online vision come true, Attorney Website Design
2018/07/20 Kavanaugh: Watergate tapes decision may have been wrong
2018/06/30 Supreme Court upholds Trump administration travel ban
2018/06/24 High Court: Online shoppers can be forced to pay sales tax
2018/06/11 Egypt refers 28 to criminal court for forming illegal group
2018/05/31 The Latest: Lambert, Ballou move to fall Supreme Court race
2018/05/01 Bangladesh Supreme Court upholds bail for opposition leader
2018/04/21 Supreme Court seems divided over Texas redistricting
2018/04/14 Supreme Court again refuses to hear Blagojevich appeal
2018/04/13 Zuckerberg Flubs Details of Facebook Privacy Commitments
2018/04/01 Drug companies want Supreme Court to take eye drop dispute
2018/03/25 Arkansas high court: Some execution drug info can be secret
2018/03/19 Agency: School boards, counties should stay out of court
2018/02/24 Supreme Court declines to take up 'Dreamers' case for now
2018/01/19 Judge to pick battlefield for court fight over Manson's body
2018/01/13 Women taking their right to go topless to state's high court
2017/11/24 Court: Stress no grounds for rescinding guilty pleas
2017/11/16 Free Speech Is Starting to Dominate the US Supreme Court's Agenda
2017/11/05 Top German court strengthens intersex identity rights
2017/10/07 Court nixes class-action status for TGI Friday's drink suit
2017/10/05 Indiana courts see changes with new e-filing system
2017/10/03 Spooked businesses shift headquarters out of Catalonia
2017/10/02 European Court Asked to Rule on Facebook Data Transfers
2017/09/04 Wisconsin panel changes court rules for Foxconn plant
2017/08/25 Top NC court weighs lawmakers stripping of governor's powers
2017/08/22 UAE prison time dropped for transgender Singaporean, friend
2017/08/14 Mizzou's Howard arrested again for failing to appear in court
2017/07/08 Court: Detained immigrant children entitled to court hearing
2017/06/28 Case of gay couple's wedding cake heads to Supreme Court
2017/06/12 Groups sue seeking court oversight of Chicago police reforms
2017/06/05 High court limits seizure of assets from drug conspiracies
2017/05/14 Judge rejects effort to block Confederate statue's removal
2017/05/03 Top Kansas Court to Revisit Death Penalty in Wichita Murders
2017/04/22 Indiana Supreme Court set to be all-white, all-GOP appointed
2017/04/17 Ohio high court will review full autopsies from 8 slayings
2017/04/16 High court sides with Goodyear in sanctions dispute
2017/03/03 Ohio court considers privacy rights in backpack search
2017/02/20 UK court says income threshold for foreign spouses is lawful
2017/02/19 South African court rules against ICC withdrawal
2017/02/07 Dylann Roof's mental state revealed in court records
2017/01/24 Kyrgyz court confirms life sentence for journalist
2017/01/14 Supreme Court delays New Jersey sports betting decision
2016/12/17 Supreme Court upholds broad reach of bank fraud law
2016/12/15 Supreme Court rejects 2 death row appeals
2016/12/06 Supreme Court stays execution of Alabama inmate
2016/12/05 Hawaii Supreme Court affirms Maui solar telescope permit
2016/11/28 Solar Advocates Ask Florida High Court to Invalidate Measure
2016/11/22 Philippine court urged to order Marcos' remains exhumed
2016/11/18 French court restores far-right candidate's ties to father
2016/10/13 Iraq's federal court rules against prime minister's reforms
2016/10/01 Israel's Supreme Court rejects former PM Olmert's appeal
2016/08/22 Court considers Kansas rule that voters prove citizenship
2016/08/06 Egyptian lawyer, journalist released after prison sentence
2016/08/02 Indiana officer accused of shooting detective due in court
2016/08/01 China releases prominent human rights lawyer on bail
2016/07/18 Family files lawsuit against hospital and city in death
2016/07/12 Court denies hospital's bid to perform brain death test
2016/07/11 Candidate filing begins Monday for appeals court seat
2016/06/14 Spain court orders Operation Puerto blood bags released
2016/06/07 High court rejects Google's appeal in class action lawsuit
2016/06/06 British court gives 22 life sentences to pedophile
2016/06/05 Missouri Appeals Court to decide fight over frozen embryos
2016/05/06 Tribunal: India, Italy should agree on Italian marine's bail
2016/05/05 Court in Russia-annexed Crimea bans Tatar assembly
2016/05/03 High court seems poised to overturn McDonnell conviction
2016/05/02 High court won't step into Mich. dispute over harness racing
2016/04/26 Court in Russia-annexed Crimea bans Tatar assembly
2016/04/25 High court won't step into Mich. dispute over harness racing
2016/04/15 Despite court ruling, China gay rights movement makes gains
2016/02/23 German court ends fight over estate of Iran shah's 2nd wife
2016/02/07 Plagued by delays, California high-speed rail heads back to court
2015/11/27 2 charged in pastor's wife killing say little in court
2015/11/05 Kansas Supreme Court to take up school funding case
2015/11/02 Woman charged in slayings of Connecticut couple due in court
2015/09/17 Charleston church suspect's friend charged with lying to FBI
2015/07/03 Peterson returns to court in murder-for-hire trial
2014/07/08 Fla. man pleads guilty to rhino horn trafficking
2014/05/27 Iran judge summons Facebook CEO to court
2014/05/20 Supreme Court takes up case of fired air marshal
2014/04/30 Court considers whistleblower free speech rights
2014/04/25 Tokyo court starts Mt. Gox bankruptcy proceedings
2014/04/21 High court to hear dispute about TV over Internet
2014/04/04 High court restores workers' compensation claim
2014/04/01 Another Apple-Samsung skirmish heads to court
2014/02/28 Supreme Court allows Stanford Ponzi scheme suits
2014/02/10 SC lawyer pleads guilty to defrauding clients
2014/02/03 Not guilty plea in Oakland attack on 'agender' boy
2014/01/30 Supreme Court orders stay of execution
2014/01/30 Supreme Court orders stay of execution
2014/01/27 Lawmakers push back against Washington high court
2014/01/24 2 killed in attack at German court
2014/01/16 High court rejects Ohio killer's last-minute plea
2014/01/13 Odds against Alex Rodriguez in federal court
2014/01/10 Defamatory online posts revisited by Texas court
2014/01/02 Utah asks Supreme Court to block gay marriage
2013/12/30 Minnesota Supreme Court Agrees To Hear Assisted Suicide Case
2013/12/20 Calif. high court mulling release of law test data
2013/12/12 Court: Exec guilty over faulty French implants
2013/12/02 Seattle lawyer left $188 million charitable trust
2013/11/29 Amanda Knox appeals slander case to European court
2013/11/25 Wind energy firm pleads guilty to eagle deaths
2013/11/18 Court reinstates death penalty notice for Monfort
2013/11/11 N. Ind. court helps veterans get back on track
2012/01/08 Justices criticize EPA's dealings with homeowners
2011/11/04 Court tosses $43M award against Ford in crash case
2011/10/24 Scott+Scott LLP Announces Securities Class Action Lawsuit
2010/09/22 Penny Stock Risks – Caveat Emptor
2008/12/17 Ill. gov's legal woes worsen as fundraisers defect
2008/10/29 DA: Criminal charges possible in boy's Uzi death
2008/03/06 High Profile Local Law Firms Merge
2008/03/05 Civil Rights & the Hawthorne Police Dept & The LAPD

Supreme Court rejects appeal from Black Lives Matter activist
Trending News | 2024/04/18 15:16

The Supreme Court on Wednesday made it easier for workers who are transferred from one job to another against their will to pursue job discrimination claims under federal civil rights law, even when they are not demoted or docked pay.

Workers only have to show that the transfer resulted in some, but not necessarily significant, harm to prove their claims, Justice Elena Kagan wrote for the court.

The justices unanimously revived a sex discrimination lawsuit filed by a St. Louis police sergeant after she was forcibly transferred, but retained her rank and pay.

Sgt. Jaytonya Muldrow had worked for nine years in a plainclothes position in the department’s intelligence division before a new commander reassigned her to a uniformed position in which she supervised patrol officers. The new commander wanted a male officer in the intelligence job and sometimes called Muldrow “Mrs.” instead of “sergeant,” Kagan wrote.

Muldrow sued under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits workplace discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion and national origin. Lower courts had dismissed Muldrow’s claim, concluding that she had not suffered a significant job disadvantage.

“Today, we disapprove that approach,” Kagan wrote. “Although an employee must show some harm from a forced transfer to prevail in a Title VII suit, she need not show that the injury satisfies a significance test.”

Kagan noted that many cases will come out differently under the lower bar the Supreme Court adopted Wednesday. She pointed to cases in which people lost discrimination suits, including those of an engineer whose new job site was a 14-by-22-foot wind tunnel, a shipping worker reassigned to exclusively nighttime work and a school principal who was forced into a new administrative role that was not based in a school.

Although the outcome was unanimous, Justices Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas each wrote separate opinions noting some level of disagreement with the majority’s rationale in ruling for Muldrow.

Madeline Meth, a lawyer for Muldrow, said her client will be thrilled with the outcome. Meth, who teaches at Boston University’s law school, said the decision is a big win for workers because the court made “clear that employers can’t decide the who, what, when, where and why of a job based on race and gender.”

The decision revives Muldrow’s lawsuit, which now returns to lower courts. Muldrow contends that, because of sex discrimination, she was moved to a less prestigious job, which was primarily administrative and often required weekend work, and she lost her take-home city car.

Retired Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy has memoir coming
Trending News | 2024/04/04 15:53

Retired Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy has a two-volume memoir coming out this fall, tracking his life from growing up in California to his 30 years on the court, when he cast key votes on landmark cases ranging from abortion to gay marriage to campaign finance.

Simon & Schuster announced Tuesday that Kennedy’s “Life and Law: The Early Years” and “Life and Law: The Court Years” will be published Oct. 1, as a boxed set and in individual editions, each around 320 pages. Kennedy was widely regarded as a moderate conservative who wrote the majority opinion on such closely divided cases as Obergefell v. Hodges, which found a constitutional right to same-sex marriage, and Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which allowed corporations and other outside entities to spend unlimited money on election campaigns.

“In ‘Life and Law,’ he explains the why’s and how’s of judging,” Simon & Schuster’s announcement reads in part.

“The second volume is filled with moving portraits of Justices O’Connor, Rehnquist, Scalia and Ginsburg that go along with the account of how Kennedy decided his views in the landmark cases. But it is the first volume about his youth in Sacramento and his decade as a practicing lawyer that explains the judicial giant. Readers will see the child who turns into the man, who shaped America as much as any Washington figure in the 21st century.”

Kennedy, 87, noted in the preface to the first volume that his memoirs proved more expansive than originally planned.

“It was my intent (my right hand is raised to swear it so) to recount my earlier years in a summary way. But something happened on the way to the pencil,” he wrote. “More and more of my recollections turned to how our society and its mindset changed in fascinating ways from the ’40s and ’50s to the ’60s and then again in the ’70s. This seemed relevant to the dynamics that influenced me and our larger society.”

“As each day passes, we should strive to learn more about who we are and whom we should strive to become,” he added. “Writing a memoir is a formal way to do this.”

Kennedy was an associate justice from 1988-2018 and his arrival and departure proved equally newsworthy.

He was appointed to the court by President Ronald Reagan, but only after the Senate had voted down Reagan’s first choice, Robert Bork, and after the second choice, Douglas Ginsburg, withdrew amid reports he had smoked marijuana. When Kennedy announced in 2018 that he was stepping down, President Donald Trump nominated a former Kennedy law clerk, Brett Kavanaugh, who was narrowly approved by the Senate after contentious confirmation hearings that included allegations Kavanaugh had assaulted a high school acquaintance, Christine Blasey Ford.

Kennedy’s book will arrive soon after Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s memoir “Lovely One,” which comes out Sept. 3.

Ken Paxton petitions to stop Dallas woman from getting an abortion
Trending News | 2024/02/19 11:17

A judge on Friday rejected Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton ’s attempts to throw out felony securities fraud charges that have shadowed the Republican for nearly a decade.

The decision by state District Judge Andrea Beall, an elected Democrat, keeps Paxton on track for an April 15 trial on charges that he duped investors in a tech startup.

If convicted, Paxton faces up to 99 years in prison. Paxton, who has pleaded not guilty, appeared in the Houston courtroom for the hearing, sitting at the defense table with his attorneys.

“He’s ready for trial … This thing has been pending for eight years. (The special prosecutors) want to dance. Put on your shoes. It’s time to go. Let’s dance,” Dan Cogdell, one of Paxton’s attorneys, told reporters after Friday’s court hearing.

Brian Wice, one of the special prosecutors handling the case, said it was important that Paxton’s case go to trial because “no one is above the law. And that includes Ken Paxton. And that’s why this case matters.”

During Friday’s hearing, the other special prosecutor in the case, Kent Schaffer, announced he was withdrawing ahead of the trial.

After the hearing, Wice said the two prosecutors parted ways after disagreeing over Schaffer’s push to avoid a trial and instead settle the case through pre-trial intervention.

Wice said Schaffer had recently reached out to Cogdell with the offer for pretrial intervention, which is like probation and would ultimately lead to the dismissal of charges if a defendant stays out of legal trouble.

Wice said he doesn’t believe pretrial intervention would have been appropriate because there would be no admission of guilt and no jail time.

“And without an acknowledgment of guilt, to me, that was worse than a slap on the wrist. That was, gee, let’s get you a cocktail, a hot meal, and breath mint. And that wasn’t going to happen on my watch,” Wice said.

Cogdell said Schaffer had reached out to him about the proposal and he would have been happy to resolve the case without a trial and a dismissal of the charges.

UN court rejects most of Ukraine’s terror financing case against Russia
Trending News | 2024/02/02 10:10

The United Nations’ top court on Wednesday rejected large parts of a case filed by Ukraine alleging that Russia bankrolled separatist rebels in the country’s east a decade ago and has discriminated against Crimea’s multiethnic community since its annexation of the peninsula.

The International Court of Justice ruled Moscow violated articles of two treaties — one on terrorism financing and another on eradicating racial discrimination — but it rejected far more of Kyiv’s claims under the treaties.

It rejected Ukraine’s request for Moscow to pay reparations for attacks in eastern Ukraine blamed on pro-Russia Ukrainian rebels, including the July 17, 2014, downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 that killed all 298 passengers and crew.

Russia has denied any involvement in the downing of the jetliner. A Dutch domestic court convicted two Russians and a pro-Moscow Ukrainian in November 2022 for their roles in the attack and sentenced them in their absence to life imprisonment. The Netherlands and Ukraine also have sued Russia at the European Court of Human Rights over MH17.

In another rebuke for Moscow, the world court ruled that Russia had violated one of the court’s orders by launching its full-scale invasion in Ukraine nearly two years ago.

The leader of Ukraine’s legal team, Anton Korynevych, called the ruling “a really important day because this is a judgment which says that the Russian Federation violated international law, in particular both conventions under which we made our application.”

The legally binding final ruling was the first of two expected decisions from the International Court of Justice linked to the decade-long conflict between Russia and Ukraine that exploded into all-out war almost two years ago.

At hearings last year, a lawyer for Ukraine, David Zionts, said the pro-Russia forces in eastern Ukraine “attacked civilians as part of a campaign of intimidation and terror. Russian money and weapons fueled this campaign.”

Fueled by border crossings, a record 3 million cases clog US immigration courts
Trending News | 2024/01/15 16:19

Eight months after crossing the Rio Grande into the United States, a couple in their 20s sat in an immigration court in Miami with their three young children. Through an interpreter, they asked a judge to give them more time to find an attorney to file for asylum and not be deported back to Honduras, where gangs threatened them.

Judge Christina Martyak agreed to a three-month extension, referred Aarón Rodriguéz and Cindy Baneza to free legal aid provided by the Catholic Archdiocese of Miami in the same courthouse — and their case remains one of the unprecedented 3 million currently pending in immigration courts around the United States.

Fueled by record-breaking increases in migrants who seek asylum after being apprehended for crossing the border illegally, the court backlog has grown by more than 1 million over the last fiscal year and it’s now triple what it was in 2019, according to government data compiled by Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.

Judges, attorneys and migrant advocates worry that’s rendering an already strained system unworkable, as it often takes several years to grant asylum-seekers a new stable life and to deport those with no right to remain in the country.

“Sometimes hope already sinks,” said Mayra Cruz after her case was also granted an extension by Martyak because the Peruvian migrant doesn’t have an attorney.

“But here I’ve felt a bit safer,” added Cruz, who said she had to flee with only the clothes on her back with her partner and their children after repeated threats from gangs.

About 261,000 cases of migrants placed in removal proceedings are pending in the Miami court — the largest docket in the country. That’s about the same as were pending nationwide a dozen years ago, said Syracuse University professor Austin Kocher.

The backlog includes migrants who have been in the United States for decades and were apprehended on unrelated charges, but most are new asylum seekers who declare a fear of persecution if they are sent back, he added.

Backlogged courts, administered by the Justice Department, often get little attention in immigration debates, including in current Senate negotiations over the Biden administration’s $110 billion proposal that links aid for Ukraine and Israel to asylum and other border policy changes.

When migrants are apprehended by U.S. authorities at the border, many are released with a record of their detention and instructions to appear in court in the city where they are headed. That information is passed on from the Department of Homeland Security to the Justice Department, whose Executive Office for Immigration Review runs the courts, so that an initial hearing can be scheduled.

“They’re just being released without any idea of what comes next,” said Randy McGrorty, executive director of Catholic Legal Services for the Archdiocese of Miami, which has seen hundreds of thousands of migrants join its diaspora communities.

So many migrants go to them for advice that, in the last couple of years, they’ve largely switched to teaching how to self-petition and represent themselves before judges.

“We help them understand what judges want, and we help judges with efficiency and preserving fundamental rights,” said Miguel Mora, a Catholic Legal Services supervising attorney in Miami.

Advocates say that most migrants ask for individual legal representation, something that’s becoming increasingly rare given the huge numbers, and how to get work permits, which migrants can apply for 150 days after filing their asylum application.

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